Financial crises, volatility and sovereign ratings: Do ratings really matter when they are needed most? The stability of Australian financial markets during the Asian financial crisis is a major economic success story. Subsequently, an important policy objective has been in enhancing the capacity of the financial infrastructure in regional financial markets to reduce their exposure to such crises. Recent financial market turmoil dramatically underscores the need to better understand the full myr ....Financial crises, volatility and sovereign ratings: Do ratings really matter when they are needed most? The stability of Australian financial markets during the Asian financial crisis is a major economic success story. Subsequently, an important policy objective has been in enhancing the capacity of the financial infrastructure in regional financial markets to reduce their exposure to such crises. Recent financial market turmoil dramatically underscores the need to better understand the full myriad of factors that feed into this challenging concern. One critical area of debate is whether or not rating agencies play a calming role. This project will deliver insights that aid development of the financial infrastructure to cope better with such crises and retain investor confidence.Read moreRead less
New approaches for testing in nonlinear models. The outcome of this project is a new econometric methodology that will be particularly useful for developing our understanding of Australian (and global) financial markets. Specific benefits are that (i) our value-at-risk models will enhance national and international awareness of issues relating to financial risk management; (ii) our exchange rate pass through model will aid the development of Australian trade and pricing policies and (iii) our du ....New approaches for testing in nonlinear models. The outcome of this project is a new econometric methodology that will be particularly useful for developing our understanding of Australian (and global) financial markets. Specific benefits are that (i) our value-at-risk models will enhance national and international awareness of issues relating to financial risk management; (ii) our exchange rate pass through model will aid the development of Australian trade and pricing policies and (iii) our duration models for trade in Australian stocks will lead to a better understanding of the microstructure of the Australian stock market.Read moreRead less
Distorted Beliefs and Asset Price Disconnect Puzzles. Asset price booms and busts have broad ranging implications for households. Despite this, models used for policy analysis struggle to explain asset prices and their implications for the macroeconomy. This project will deliver frontier macro-finance research to inform academics and policymakers on how to model asset price booms and busts, to explain why equity and house price falls appear to have small versus large effects, and how to design e ....Distorted Beliefs and Asset Price Disconnect Puzzles. Asset price booms and busts have broad ranging implications for households. Despite this, models used for policy analysis struggle to explain asset prices and their implications for the macroeconomy. This project will deliver frontier macro-finance research to inform academics and policymakers on how to model asset price booms and busts, to explain why equity and house price falls appear to have small versus large effects, and how to design effective policy responses. Led by internationally recognized experts in macroeconomics, this research proposal is perfectly positioned to deliver scientific peer-reviewed research and embed outcomes through evidenced partnerships with the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Federal Department of Treasury.Read moreRead less
Modelling multivariate financial time series using copulas. What are the chances that the losses in the market value of investments exceed the anticipated levels? Given that one country's financial market collapsed, what are the chances that it would lead to financial crises in other countries? These questions often arise in risk management and international finance. This project takes a significant step forward from the existing literature to develop new flexible and innovative methods to an ....Modelling multivariate financial time series using copulas. What are the chances that the losses in the market value of investments exceed the anticipated levels? Given that one country's financial market collapsed, what are the chances that it would lead to financial crises in other countries? These questions often arise in risk management and international finance. This project takes a significant step forward from the existing literature to develop new flexible and innovative methods to answer the foregoing type of questions. Further, this project proposes new measures of market risks that are suitable for communicating to the broader public as well as the experts.Read moreRead less
Australia's Resilience to Recession. This project aims to study why Australia differs from its OECD peers in that it has not had a recession for 27 years. It intends to generate knowledge by using economic models to solve 3 puzzles relating to Australia’s success: (i) why did foreign financial market shocks not spill over to the economy?; (ii) how has the resource curse that affects economies with a booming resource sector been avoided?; and (iii) what makes Australia special? Expected outcomes ....Australia's Resilience to Recession. This project aims to study why Australia differs from its OECD peers in that it has not had a recession for 27 years. It intends to generate knowledge by using economic models to solve 3 puzzles relating to Australia’s success: (i) why did foreign financial market shocks not spill over to the economy?; (ii) how has the resource curse that affects economies with a booming resource sector been avoided?; and (iii) what makes Australia special? Expected outcomes include the development of theoretical and empirical models that reflect the unique features of the Australian economy. This should provide significant benefits, including guidance to Australian and international policymakers on macroeconomic policies for resource-rich countries.Read moreRead less
The New Dimensions of the Quantum Universe. This Fellowship will help build and strengthen significant world-class research capacity at the frontier of fundamental science. More students will be motivated to pursue careers in science, increasing the number of talented, world-class science graduates in Australia. It will forge strong research links both locally and internationally so as to enhance existing networks and create new ones. It will greatly enhance Australia's standing in particle phys ....The New Dimensions of the Quantum Universe. This Fellowship will help build and strengthen significant world-class research capacity at the frontier of fundamental science. More students will be motivated to pursue careers in science, increasing the number of talented, world-class science graduates in Australia. It will forge strong research links both locally and internationally so as to enhance existing networks and create new ones. It will greatly enhance Australia's standing in particle physics, the epitome of Big Science, and garner new respect from one of the world's most influential scientific communities. Having this kind of world-class research in Australia, will also help foster public education and advance the public understanding of fundamental science.
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Branes and unification. This project will explore theories which hypothesis that our universe is a 3-dimensional mem-(brane) residing in higher dimensional space. We will construct completely realistic theories and find ways to test them experimentally. This project is at the forefront of international developments in our understanding of the universe - an area that has grown in importance following the construction of the Large Hadron Collider at the European Giant accelerator laboraroty. The p ....Branes and unification. This project will explore theories which hypothesis that our universe is a 3-dimensional mem-(brane) residing in higher dimensional space. We will construct completely realistic theories and find ways to test them experimentally. This project is at the forefront of international developments in our understanding of the universe - an area that has grown in importance following the construction of the Large Hadron Collider at the European Giant accelerator laboraroty. The project will expose postgraduate students to exciting developments in this fascinating field pf physics.Read moreRead less
Particle physics and cosmology of neutrinos. Neutrinos are a particularly interesting class of elementary particle. The Standard Model of particle physics sees neutrinos as having exactly zero mass. However, recent experimental data have all but demonstrated that massless neutrinos are inconsistent with observations. If neutrinos have mass, then quantum mechanics allows them to oscillate between the different neutrino types as they propagate through space. Nonzero neutrino masses and the associa ....Particle physics and cosmology of neutrinos. Neutrinos are a particularly interesting class of elementary particle. The Standard Model of particle physics sees neutrinos as having exactly zero mass. However, recent experimental data have all but demonstrated that massless neutrinos are inconsistent with observations. If neutrinos have mass, then quantum mechanics allows them to oscillate between the different neutrino types as they propagate through space. Nonzero neutrino masses and the associated oscillations lead to important new physics in the elementary particle domain and in cosmology. This project will explore the implications of neutrino oscillations in diverse areas in particle physics and cosmology.Read moreRead less
The Origin of Mass at the Large Hadron Collider. The Large Hadron Collider is an enormous worldwide effort to understand the building blocks of the Universe. This project will help strengthen world-class research capacity in one of the most exciting frontiers of basic research. It will excite more high-achieving students to pursue careers in science increasing the number of talented graduates in Australia. In addition the big fundamental questions addressed in this research are of great fascin ....The Origin of Mass at the Large Hadron Collider. The Large Hadron Collider is an enormous worldwide effort to understand the building blocks of the Universe. This project will help strengthen world-class research capacity in one of the most exciting frontiers of basic research. It will excite more high-achieving students to pursue careers in science increasing the number of talented graduates in Australia. In addition the big fundamental questions addressed in this research are of great fascination to the general public and will help to further advance the public education of science.Read moreRead less